PROJECTS

Deliberating Post-Neoliberal Futures and Democratic Alternatives to Capital

Under neoliberalism, global crises have intensified: financial, climate, humanitarian and security crises have proliferated. In this context, a wide range of democratic initiatives for ‘post-neoliberalism’ are advanced by social movements and other organizations. This inter-disciplinary project maps a number of key initiatives, investigating their practical capacity in terms of livelihood and political community, their effectiveness in responding to global crises, and their potential for collaboration and convergence. It conducts network mapping, in-depth interviews and ethnographic work, combined with discourse and dialogical analysis to produce insights into global political change, and to produce more effective policy responses. The project investigates progressive alternatives to capital in 21st century which have been developed in in the form of theory, model, practice, policy, and project. It investigates the capacities of these alternatives for cross-ideological interactions and integration. It particularly focuses on four major democratic modes of livelihood and sociality which have influenced transformative social movements in the global field of post-capitalist transitions

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Critical Open-mindedness vs. Social Closed-mindedness

This project is about measuring 'critical (social) open-mindedness' in Australia as a composite index which was first introduced through a series of conference presentations and publications by its chief investigators. It also employs Structural Equation Modelling to explore its determining social factors in th Australian context (2005-2012). In the age of rising anti-immigrant sentiments and populist nationalist movements lead by far right political forces which draw on the politics of fear and hatred across the world, closed-mindedness is a concept that needs to be rethought and returned to the center of our conscientious/critical social inquiry. We however argue that this time, the sociological dimension of this phenomenon deserves a much stronger attention. Therefore, the notion of ‘social close/open-mindedness’ is developed for the first time through this project as a sociological construct and the complexities of its measurement and explanation are discussed and dealt with.

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From Well-being to Social Well-living: A New Paradignm Inspired by Old Indigenous Cultures

The dominance of technocratic notions of Well-being have left little room for saving the idea and rekindling it. It is time to think of new idea that would liberate us from the Eurocentric, individualistic, ecologicially blind understandings of well-being and health. This project, drawing on the experiences and alternative ideas from the global south, argues for a new notion and method of assessing communal/social well-living.

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The Coal Rush and Beyond

Globally, coal extraction and burning has been booming in the last decade. This inter-disciplinary project investigates the ‘coal rush’ in sociopolitical terms, asking how coal reliance emerges, and whether it might be superseded.

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